Xi Jinping, Winter Olympics, Weinstein Company: Your Monday Briefing

• Sheriff Scott Israel defended his “amazing leadership” as questions mounted over his department’s response. At least one deputy failed to enter the school while the shooting was in progress.

Democrats’ rebuttal is made public

• A House panel released a redacted memo over the weekend that counters Republican claims of abuses by the F.B.I. and the Justice Department in the Russia investigation. Read the memo here.

President Trump blocked the release of the Democratic memo two weeks ago, citing national security concerns.

• Here are five takeaways from the document, which details what the Democrats say were inaccurate claims and omissions in an earlier Republican memo.

The Olympics are over. Is the diplomacy?

• The Winter Games closed in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the question is now whether signs of a thaw between the two Koreas will last.

The South’s president, Moon Jae-in, said today that, while the U.S. and North Korea have indicated a willingness for talks, they need to soften their stances.

We have highlights and photographs from the closing ceremony, and our Olympics team reflected on their favorite moments from the past two weeks.

Continue reading the main story

• The U.S. finished with 23 medals, nine of them gold. Here’s the full count.

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The closing ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on Sunday. The next Winter Olympics will be hosted by Beijing in 2022.Credit
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

The Daily

Listen to ‘The Daily’: CPAC in the #MeToo Era

President Trump’s vision dominated at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and, as one woman learned, there was little room for alternative views.

Audio

Business

• The Weinstein Company will file for bankruptcy after talks about a sale collapsed. The film and TV studio has been struggling since a wave of accusations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein, a co-owner.

• The Supreme Court is to hear a case today that could affect public-sector unions. At issue is whether government employees must pay unions for representing them in collective bargaining.

• Balking at “blockchain bros”: Women who have been trying to join the gold rush of virtual currencies are finding a gender divide.

• A new round of talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement is among the headlines to watch this week.

• U.S. stocks were up on Friday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets today.

Smarter Living

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

• Traveling? Here are simple tips to get by if you don’t know the language.

• You can weather a turbulent stock market.

• Trya meatless meal of Sri Lankan dal with coconut and lime kale.

Over the Weekend

• A new U.N. resolution demanding a cease-fire across Syria appeared to have little effect, as government forces attacked a rebel-held enclave near the capital, Damascus. There were reports on Sunday of a suspected chlorine attack.

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Victims of what activists said was a gas attack in eastern Ghouta, Syria, on Sunday.Credit
Mohammed Badra/European Pressphoto Agency

• The authorities in Atlanta announced a $10,000 reward for information about a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employee who disappeared two weeks ago.

Continue reading the main story

• Warren Buffett said in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders that it had recorded more than $29 billion in gains from the tax overhaul in December.

• “Black Panther” may soon join the $1 billion club. The Marvel superhero movie has earned more than $700 million in global ticket sales in 12 days.

Noteworthy

• Fortified, but still in peril

In the years after Hurricane Katrina, more than 350 miles — and $20 billion — of levees, flood walls, gates and pumps were built to encircle New Orleans. Experts say it’s not enough.

The article is part of a special report about the ecological crisis facing Louisiana’s coast, the product of a partnership between The Times and NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

For more coverage of climate change, sign up for our newsletter, Climate Fwd:.

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The West Closure Complex is part of a sprawling hurricane risk reduction system that protects greater New Orleans. The city is visible in the distance.Credit
William Widmer for The New York Times

• Hoping to head off would-be migrants

France has set up an outpost in Niger to screen those seeking asylum.

But very few are actually approved, which sends a message to others thinking of migrating: Stay home.

• Quotation of the day

“Xi Jinping is susceptible to making big mistakes because there are now almost no checks or balances. Essentially, he has become emperor for life.”

— Willy Lam, the author of a 2015 biography of Mr. Xi, on China’s moves to abolish presidential term limits.

Continue reading the main story

• The Times, in other words

Here’s an image of today’s front page, and links to our Opinion content and crossword puzzles.

Back Story

“Was it really that bad?”

That’s what Arthur Bicknell asked years after his play, a mystery farce called “Moose Murders,” opened and closed on the same night this month in 1983 — setting a punishing new standard for Broadway flops.

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“Moose Murders,” a crime on stage.Credit
Ruby Washington/The New York Times

“The simple answer,” he conceded to The Times, “is yes.”

Reviews were brutal. Brendan Gill of The New Yorker said it “would insult the intelligence of an audience consisting entirely of amoebas.” Dennis Cunningham of CBS advised, “If your name is Arthur Bicknell, change it.” (In one account, a woman leaving the theater shouted to a police officer, “Arrest this play!”)

Here’s the Times review by Frank Rich, who years later would call it “the worst play I’ve ever seen on a Broadway stage.”

In the years since its ill-fated debut, “Moose Murders” has gained notoriety, if not respect. In 2011, Mr. Bicknell published “Moose Murdered: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Broadway Bomb.”)

In fact, there have been revivals of “Moose Murders” around the world — and at least one comical twist. In 2007, the Repertory Philippines misidentified the author of the play in posters around Manila. Instead of Mr. Bicknell, it credited The Times’s critic, Mr. Rich.